Opera singer Nikitin spoke about the work on the Parisian version of “Khovanshchina”

Opera singer Yevgeny Nikitin, on the eve of the Paris premiere of the opera Khovanshchina, in which he performs the part of the boyar Shaklovity, told Izvestia about the work on the production.

According to him, the Opera Bastille is a serious theater, and therefore has a certain level of taste. Nikitin admitted that during his collaboration with this theater he had never participated in a production for which he “had accumulated more than one or two questions.” He noted that everything that happens on the stage can, if desired, be read exactly the opposite, “and often it will come out more naturally.”

“But the ambiguity of reading, non-standard interpretation often prevent the listener from focusing on the main thing – music, voices, orchestra and everything else. In Paris, this balance has always been maintained. So in this case with Khovanshchina – with the exception of a sketchy, but readable and stylish set design with almost authentic costumes – the production can be called a classic without visible exaggeration, ”Nikitin emphasized.

He shared that he considers the music of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky in Khovanshchina to be brilliant.

In addition, Nikitin appreciated the opinion that this opera is in tune with Russia. Thus, the opera singer admitted that in disputes with friends, I often heard the expression “an unfinished damp fresco.” According to him, “the history of Russia is a raw, unfinished fresco: everything is unsteady, ephemeral, but at the same time fundamental, uncompromising.” This opera, according to the artist, has neither beginning nor end.

“You can start listening to it from anywhere. So the history of Russia can be written from any place and will have no end. An endless movement in a circle, then forward, then back. Cyclicity. “Khovanshchina” is a small episode of history taken out of context. This is perhaps the only performance in the world that does not have a plot as such,” Nikitin believes.

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